talão

Forms

talão m (plural talões)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Spanish talón (“heel”) according to Houaiss, from Vulgar Latin *talo, a derivative of Latin tālus (“ankle; heel”).^[2] The REW also gives the Spanish word as the source of the Portuguese one.^[3] Wiktionary and Nascentes take it instead from French talon (“heel”), and Aurélio has the Vulgar Latin word come in through French.^[1][4][5] Cunha derives the word for the heel straight from the Vulgar Latin form, without a borrowing.^[6] Corominas notes that the Latin word itself left no Romance descendants, while the derivative is recorded only in a late gloss but survives across the West.^[7] In his view Portuguese uses calcanhar for the heel in everyday speech, and the word, chiefly a term of the crafts and of shoemaking, was borrowed from another Romance language, most likely French.^[7]

The same Vulgar Latin noun gave Italian tallone and Catalan taló besides the Spanish and French words.^[3]

For the counterfoil sense, Cunha has a second article, dated to the 20th century, which derives it from French étalon (“legal standard of weights and measures”).^[6] Corominas traces the Spanish word in the sense “monetary standard” to the same French word, which he takes to be the Old French word for “stake, post”.^[7][8] Houaiss keeps the counterfoil among the senses of the heel word and dates it to 1881, earlier than Cunha's date.^[2]

De Vaan reconstructs the Latin noun as Proto-Italic *takslo-, if the diminutive taxillus (“small die”) is old.^[9] He finds the comparison with Welsh sawdl (“heel”) and Old Irish sál (“heel”) difficult.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss dates the word in the sense “heel” to the 13th century, from Cunha's slips of medieval Portuguese, and Cunha gives the same century.^[2][6]

Semantic evolution

From the heel the word passed to things placed at the back of the foot or at an end: the end of a horseshoe's branches (before 1635), the part of a shoe or stocking that covers the heel (1721), and in vine-growing the short shoot left nearest the ground at pruning (1721).^[2] Morais (1813) defines it as the part of the shoe's upper that rises to cover the heel, with a further sense in farriery, and Vieira adds the farrier's use for the back of the hoof and the shipbuilder's talão da caixa, the piece at the end of the keel.^[10][11]

The counterfoil sense, the fixed part of a book of tear-off slips that stays as a record, is dated by Houaiss to 1881.^[2] In Portugal talão is also any slip or receipt that proves a payment or sums up a document.^[12][13] Later technical senses include an ogee moulding, the frog of a violin bow and the bead of a tyre.^[2] In Rio Grande do Sul the word is used for the human heel, as in ficar de talão para cima “to die”.^[14]

Timeline

• 13th century – first record, in Cunha's slips of medieval Portuguese.^[2][6]
• before 1635 – the end of a horseshoe's branches.^[2]
• 1721 – the heel of a shoe or stocking, and the vine shoot left at pruning.^[2]
• 1813 – Morais defines it as the part of a shoe that covers the heel.^[10]
• 1871–1874 – Vieira records the farriers' and shipbuilders' senses.^[11]
• 1881 – the counterfoil sense.^[2]
• 1899 – a notch cut in a beam.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. (anatomy) The heel; calcanhar.^[2][1][15]
2. The part of a shoe or stocking that covers the heel.^[2][13]
3. The fixed part of a book of cheques, receipts or tickets, which stays as a record when the slips are torn off; a stub or counterfoil; also the whole book: talão de cheques “chequebook”.^[2][1][5]
4. (Portugal) A slip or receipt that proves a payment or gives a summary of a document.^[12][13]
5. (agriculture) The shoot left nearest the ground when vines are pruned.^[2][15]
6. (architecture) An ogee moulding.^[2][16]
7. (farriery) The back of a horse's hoof; the end of the branches of a horseshoe.^[2][15]
8. (nautical) The after end of a ship's keel.^[2]
9. (music) The frog of a violin bow, where the player holds it.^[2]
10. (automotive) The bead of a tyre.^[2]

Related words

• Latin talus
• Spanish talón
• French talon

Usage notes

Houaiss, Aurélio and Michaelis also record talão as a variant of telão, which Houaiss dates to Caldas Aulete's dictionary of 1881.^[2][5][17] Telão means a large canvas, and in the theatre a painted drop.^[18]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. talão
3. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 8544
4. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. talão
5. ^ a b c Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. talão
6. ^ a b c d Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. talão
7. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 389
8. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. talón
9. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill, p. s.v. tālus
10. ^ a b Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 2, 750
11. ^ a b Vieira, Frei Domingos (1871–1874), Grande Diccionario Portuguez ou Thesouro da lingua portugueza, 5 vols., Porto: Ernesto Chardron e Bartholomeu H. de Moraes, p. 5, 664
12. ^ a b Academia das Ciências de Lisboa, Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, revised online edition (2023–) of the Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa Contemporânea (2001), https://dicionario.acad-ciencias.pt, p. s.v. talão
13. ^ a b c Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 8789
14. ^ Schlee, Aldyr Garcia (2019), Dicionário da Cultura Pampeana Sul-Rio-Grandense, 2 vols., Pelotas: Fructos do Paiz, p. s.v. talão
15. ^ a b c Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. talão
16. ^ Aulete, Francisco Júlio Caldas, Dicionário contemporâneo da língua portuguesa (1st ed. 1881), online as Aulete Digital, Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, https://aulete.com.br, p. s.v. talão
17. ^ Michaelis: Moderno Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, São Paulo: Melhoramentos (online as Michaelis Dicionário Brasileiro da Língua Portuguesa, https://michaelis.uol.com.br), p. s.v. talão
18. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. telão